Your chair may be empty this year

But you are not far from our thoughts.

This first Thanksgiving without you

Finds us looking for the sweet in the bitter.

We will make your favorite dish anyway.

The one no one else really likes.

Maybe this year we will taste it again,

And discover what you enjoyed.

Or maybe we will still all think

That you were crazy for eating it.

Dear one, we miss you today.

Time will not change that,

Though it may shrink the hole you left.

Thank you for loving us well.

For being human, wrong at times,

More right than we wanted to admit.

Now that life with you

Has turned into life remembering you,

We will fight to be thankful for the time we had

And take breaks from the pain of missing you.

To keep loving each other well.

Your chair is empty today.

In time another may take your seat.

Because the love you gave us,

Did not end but still grows within,

And reaches out in welcome.